Entergy wants to take south Lafourche land

Lafourche Parish’s primary energy provider is asking a Thibodaux court for access to privately owned land in south Lafourche for the relocation of a transmission line.

Xerxes Wilson Staff Writer

Lafourche Parish’s primary energy provider is asking a Thibodaux court for access to privately owned land in south Lafourche for the relocation of a transmission line. Entergy’s request involves 117 tracts and will be considered Sept. 11, officials said.Entergy representatives said the legal action is the “last resort” and is needed to improve lines that run from Golden Meadow to Leeville. It will also make it easier to access the lines when crews need to do work.State law allows companies that serve a public need take land without the owner’s consent by proving to a court that the project will benefit the public and that they’ve made a fair financial offer for the land. Land owners have the right to challenge the public benefit and valuation of the property. Efforts by The Courier and Daily Comet to reach affected landowners were not immediately successful.Entergy is primarily seeking servitudes that will restrict building in the line’s immediate vicinity. The line’s current alignment brings it from Golden Meadow east, crossing south Lafourche’s levees into the marsh. Wooden and steel poles carry the line through 15 miles of marsh and open water east of Bayou Lafourche before reconnecting at the Leeville substation, according to Entergy’s Mario Ceravolo, the project’s manager.The new 13 mile alignment will leave the Golden Meadow station across mostly undeveloped land on the La. 308 side of the bayou. The line will cross the bayou before reaching the floodgate and run along the back of property on the La. 1 side of the town before connecting to the Leeville substation. “It will drastically improve our response,” Ceravolo said of the proposed changes. “What happens now out in the marsh they often have to get big marsh cranes and airboats” to facilitate repairs. Crews “have to secure landowner permission to go on parts of the property,” he added.Once the line is moved, crews can access it using “rubber tire equipment. It will be much easier to access,” Ceravolo said.In addition to making most of the line accessible via La. 1, the project will bolster the line to withstand winds up to 150 mph, Ceravolo said. This involves installing 182 galvanized steel poles, most of which reach 80 feet above the ground and 40-75 feet deep below ground, he said.Amy Martinez, spokeswoman for Entergy, said the company had some properties appraised multiple times. She said offers ranged, depending on size and number of owners. Some landowners would have a pole installed on their property. Others would have the line running overhead.Ceravolo said the agreement would prohibit most landowners from building within 80 feet of the line’s path and gives the company the ability to service the line from their property.“They can still drive and use driveways, they just can’t build a house (under the lines),” Ceravolo said. Martinez said the project has been in the planning stages for two years and the goal is to have it complete by next hurricane season. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.Martinez declined to detail how much Entergy is investing in the proposed upgrade. Ceravolo noted Entergy recently spent “millions” bolstering and raising components at the Leeville substation. The company has also upgraded its transmission lines running south from Leeville.